Device for automatically unwinding a weft out of a bobbin and an automatic bobbin changing device and a special bobbin therefor



March 18, 1969 OSAMU NAKAKO 3,433,272

DEVICE FOR AUTOMATICALLY UNWINDING A WEFT OUT OF A BOBBIN AND ANAUTOMATIC BOBBIN CHANGING DEVICE AND A SPECIAL BOBBIN THEREFOR v FiledMay 13, 1966 Sheet 0f 2 March 18, 1969 OSAMU NAKAKO 3,433,272

DEVICE FOR AUTOMATICALLY UNWINDING A WEFT OUT OF A BOBBIN AND ANAUTOMATIC BOBBIN CHANGING DEVICE AND A SPECIAL BOBBIN THEREFOR Filed May13, 1966 Sheet 2 of 2 United States Patent 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE The end of a weft is wound around a retractable bushing toform the nose bunch of the weft on a bobbin. The bushing is retractedinto a funnel suction opening of an unwinding pipe by means of aprojection at the opening. When the bushing is retracted into the guidepipe, tension between the nose bunch and the weft wound on the bobbin isreleased so that the weft can be easily and smoothly unwound from thebobbin.

This invention relates to automatic bobbin changing looms, and moreparticularly, to looms associated with a device for automaticallyunwinding a weft out of a bobbin and feeding said weft into a shuttleand a device for automatically changing said device as well as a specialbobbin.

Various means and processes have been conventionally proposed to unwindan end of a weft wound around the top portion of the bobbin or a nosebunch of weft wound around the bobbin. According to the ordinaryprocess, a nose bunch of weft is nipped by a nipper and subjected to anopposite rotation to the winding direction of the weft of the bobbin. Inthis case, when the nose bunch of the weft is too firmly wound aroundthe top portion of the bobbin, it becomes difiicult to unwind the weft,and especially it is more difficult to unwind the Weft having many roughcotton strands or fuzzes. On the other hand, when the weft is wound soloosely around the bobbin in order to make the unwinding action withease, the nose bunch of weft may slip off during the delivery of thebobbin, stopping the loom and also resulting in the imcomplete weave ofthe fabric thus woven. According to another process, the nose bunch ofweft is frictionally rotated by a brush into the opposite direction tothe winding one of the weft so as to wind the weft, but it makes almostimpossible to unwind the weft due to the quality of the weft. Even ifthe weft may be unwound by means of the brushing process several times,some weft remain in the brush so that it results in the inferiorunwinding of the weft. In another process, the nose bunch of the weft isfrictionally unwound by means of an endless brush, but when the nosebunch of the weft is too firmly wound around the bobbin, and theremaining weft thus entangled the brush would make the unwinding actionimpossible. The unwinding of the nose bunch of the weft only through asuction pipe is quite difiicult, and more especially it is almostimpossible to unwind the weft having many rough cotton strands orfuzzes. In accordance with another process, an unwinding pipe providedwith a resilient means at an inlet portion of a suction secured at saidpipe is adapted to make into contact with a top portion of the bobbin insuch a manner that the nose bunch of the weft may be fed into thesuction pipe so that the nose bunch of the weft may be nipped by theresilient means and unwound by means of suction. In this process, it isnecessary to strongly unwind the nose bunch of weft firmly wound aroundthe bobbin so that it is liable to deteriorate the top portion of thebobbin, caus- 3,433,272 Patented Mar. 18, 1969 ing to cut off the weftbetween the wound portion and the nose bunch of the weft around saidbobbin and also fail ing to carry out the perfect unwinding and feedingof the weft into a shuttle. At the same time, it needs to providespecial means to prevent the bobbin from moving and also to secureanother means for shifting the unwinding pipe, whereby there are causedmany troubles in the loom itself.

The present invention embraces an automatic bobbin changing loom, adevice for unwinding a nose bunch of a weft and a special bobbin whichmay be supplied into the present automatic bobbin changing loom.

An object of the invention is the provision of an automatic bobbinchanging loom associated with a device adapted to easily unwind a nosebunch of a weft out of a top portion of the bobbin and to feed the weftinto a shuttle of the loom.

Another object of the invention is to provide a special bobbin which maybe readily supplied into the present automatic bobbin changing loom soas to smoothly carry out said winding action of weft.

Another object of this invention is to provide a transferring device forautomatically changing the bobbin when the weft around said bobbin isout.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a device adapted tocooperate with an unwinding pipe to smoothly unwind the nose bunch ofweft wound around a retractable bushing at a top portion of the bobbin.

A further object of this invention is to provide a special device forcarrying out the smooth unwinding of the weft without giving a cut,causing neither fuzzes nor deterioration of the weft, whereby a splendidcloth having complete weave maybe obtained.

Another object of the present invention is to provide structuralembodiments of the device which are readily constructed and permitefficient use and operation thereof. Other objects of the invention willin part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction,combination of elements and arrangement of parts, which will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope ofthe invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and object of the invention,reference should be had to the following detailed description, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, with parts broken away, of an embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of a bobbin guideconduit of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view illustrating a part of a top portion of thebobbin made into contact with an opening of an unwinding pipe of thisinvention;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the opening portion of the unwinding pipeshown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side elevational View, with a middle part broken away, andalso a sectional view on line X--X of the bobbin shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and3; and

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a modified form of the topportion of the bobbin.

Referring to the drawings, in which like numerals identify similar partsthroughout, reference numeral 1 designates a bobbin, shown especially inFIGS. 5 and 6, and a guide pipe 2 is integrally secured into a top boreof the bobbin 1. An end portion of a central shaft 4 having a tenonportion 3 at its other end is axially disposed into an opening of theguide pipe 2 through a retractable bushing 6 and a coil spring 7 in sucha manner that the bushing 6 having a flange 5 at its inner end peripherymay be slidably guided through the coil spring 3 7 along the centralshaft 4 until the flange 5 of said bushing 5 is stopped by the tenonportion of the central shaft 4.

An end portion of a weft 8 is wound several times around an outerperiphery of the protrudent bushing 6 in order to form a nose bunch 9 ofthe weft. For unwinding the weft out of the bobbin A, said bobbin A isdelivered to the desired unwinding section of the device, then a topportion of the bushing 6 is fitted into the guide pipe 2 so that thenose bunch 9 of weft around the outer periphery of the retractablebushing 6 may be readily drawn out by a leading peripheral edge of theguide pipe 2.

The arrangement and function of the present unwinding device areexplained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 inclusive, and a guide conduit11 communicatnig with a bottom corner of a box extends downwards nearthe bobbin guide 12, and a bobbin support 13 is provided at a lower edgeof the elongated guide conduit 11. The first stopper 15 is rotatablypivoted on a shaft 16 in such a way that a head of said stopper 15 maybe reciprocally projected into the conduit 11 through its bottom opening14. Said first stopper 15 is connected through a rod 18 to a baseportion of a transferrer 17 mounted on one side of the guide conduit 11.The stopper 15 is adapted to support the bobbin A, preventing saidbobbin A from dropping down through the guide conduit 11. Rotatablydisposed is the second stopper 19 over the guide conduit 11 by a pin 20,said stopper 19 being slightly put on a top leg portion of thetransferrer 17 so as to be always lifted up out of the guide conduit 11.The transferrer 17 is rotatably mounted on a shaft 21, which transferrer17 is always kept to the same position by means of a plate spring 22working into a counterclockwise direction. One end of a ratchet pawl 23is secured to a bottom portion of the transferrer 17 by a pin 24. Adriving shaft 25 is mounted parallelly with the shaft 21 of thetransferrer 17, each end of the shaft 21 being mounted into one side ofa frame 26, respectively. A disc 27 and a ratchet wheel 28 areintegrally secured at one end portion of the driving shaft 25, and aguide plate 29 is mounted on a top portion periphery of the disc 27,said guide plate 29 being large enough to cover one or two pawls of theratchet wheel 28. Rotatably arranged is an L-shaped lever 30 to thedriving shaft 25 and adjacent to the disc 27 mounted at an opposite sideof the ratchet wheel 28. A ratchet pawl 31 is secured by a pin 32 to anend portion of the L-shaped lever 30 and a vertical rod 33 is connectedby a pin 34 to another end portion of the lever, and these members areso arranged that the ratchet wheel 28 may be rotated by each one pawl bymeans of a plate spring 35. A cam 36 is secured at another end portionof the driving shaft 25 and at an opposite side of the ratchet wheel 28,while a groove 37 is formed around a cylindrical surface of said cam 36in such a manner that a sliding contact 41 at an end portion of a leverpivoted at its intermediate position by a lever arm 39 may make onereciprocal motion through the groove 37 by one rotation of the groovedcam 36. To this end, one rotation of the sliding contact 41 through thegroove 37 may result in one reciprocal motion of the lever pivoted bythe lever arm 39 secured to a bracket 38 so that another end portion ofthe lever 40 is adapted to fit into a shifting ring 42 of an unwindingpipe B.

As shown in FIG. 1, a slay sword 53 pivoted by a rocking shaft 52 as afulcrum is adapted to make a front and rear reciprocating motion, andsaid rocking shaft 52 is connected to the vertical rod 33 by means ofsaid slay sword 53, link 54 and bell crank lever 55, said vertical rod33 being adapted to make vertical movement through the front and rearreciprocating motion of the slay sword 53.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are illustrative of the unwinding pipe B of the presentinvention, said unwinding pipe B being arranged at one side of the guideconduit 11 of the box 10, into which a number of the bobbins A arelaterally supplied and overlapped. Integrally secured at one end portionof the unwinding pipe B (or suction pipe 43) is a suction nozzle 45having a funneled suction opening 44, into which inner bottom peripheryis so provided a projection 47 as to form a space 46 communicating intothe suction pipe 43. A coil spring 48, the shifting ring 42 and asecuring ring 49 are slidably fitted around said suction pipe 43 in thisorder, while the securing ring 49 is fixed by means of a bolt so as tostop the shifting ring 42. Another end of the suction pipe 43 isslidably fitted into a holding pipe 50, which is further connected intoa suction pipe 51, and these members are so arranged that one rotationof the grooved cam 36 results in one reciprocating movement of the lever40 so that the suction nozzle 45 may extend through the lever action ofthe lever 40 and plunge into the device through an opening of the frame26, as shown in FIG. 1.

The working function of the device and the bobbin of this invention willbe explained with reference to the accompanying drawings, especiallyFIGS. 1 and 2. An end of the weft 8 is wound several times around theouter periphery of the retractable bushing 6 secured at the end portionof the bobbin A in order to form a nose bunch of the weft 9. The desirednumber of the bobbins A are laterally supplied into the box 10 with thetop portion of each bobbin facing on the unwinding pipe B, and eachbobbin A is adapted to roll down one by one through the guide conduit 11of the box 10. Through the changing motion of the bobbin, thetransferrer 17 is driven to rotate as shown by an arrow in FIG. 2, thenthe first stopper 15 is falling outwards by means of the rod 18connected to the transferrer 17. The second stopper 19 is arranged overthe first stopper 15 and the shaft 20 of the second stopper 19 islocated a little distant from the shaft 21 of the transferrer 17 so thatthe second stopper 19 may make the early movement than the first stopper15, resulting in that the second stopper 19 is rotatably falling downclockwise into the guide conduit 11 before the first stopper 15 comesout of the bottom opening 14 of the guide conduit 11, then it is readyfor the second stopper 19 to support the bobbin A In other words, thefirst stopper 15 falls down outwards a little after the second stopper19 has fallen down into the bottom portion of the guide conduit 11 sothat the extreme front bobbin A supported by the head of the firststopper 15 is released from said first stopper, whereby the bobbin A isfalling down to the second stopper 19 so as to be supported by thestopper (shown as A in the drawings). The transferrer 17 makes furtherrotation till the bottom limit to interrupt the communication with thebobbin changing motion so that the transferrer 17 is rapidly raised upby the spring 22 to return to the normal position. By virtue of therapidly upward returning motion of the transferrer 17, the head of thefirst stopper 15 plunges into the bobbin guide 11 through the bottomopening 14 thereof a little earlier than the second stopper 19 liftingup through the similar dilference of the motion between the first andsecond stoppers, whereby the bobbin A next the bobbin A held by thesecond stopper 19 may be held by the head portion of the first stopper15 and the bobbin A held by the second stopper 19 is adapted to rolldown a bobbin support 13, then the bobbin A is stopped by a bobbin guide12 so as to be ready to the unwinding action of the nose bunch 9 of weftwound around the top portion of the bobbin A Irrespective of the actionof the transferrer 17, the vertical rod 33 is continuing the verticalmotion by means of the slay sword 53 through the motion of the loom,while by virtue of the vertical motion of the vertical rod 33, theratchet pawl 31 is driven through the L-shaped lever 30 to make aslidable and reciprocating motion on the guide 29 secured to the disc 27so that the ratchet pawl 31 may not be engaged with the ratchet wheel28, which is not driven to rotate by the ratchet pawl 31. On the otherhand, by virtue of the falling down and rapidly returning motions of thetransferrer 17 adapted to operate the first and second stoppers, theratchet pawl 31 is made to engage with the ratchet wheel 28. Moreparticularly, when the transferrer .17 is rotatably falling down, theratchet pawl 23 secured to the base portion of the transferrer 17 isdriven to slide on the ratchet wheel 28 by one cog into acounterclockwise direction so as to engage with the next cog of thewheel 28, while the ratchet wheel 28 is driven to rotate into aclockwise direction by the ratchet pawl 23 through the upward returningaction of the transferrer 17.

Through the clockwise rotation of the ratchet wheel 28, the disc 27 isalso driven to rotate so that the position of the guide 29 is shifted,then the ratchet pawl 31 slidably reciprocating on the guide 29 isdetached from said guide to engage with the ratchet wheel 28. To thisend, the ratchet wheel 28 is driven to rotate into a clockwise directionthrough the downward motion of the vertical rod 33, while the ratchetwheel 28 is made to rotate through the reciprocating action of thevertical rod 33, resulting in the rotation of the driving shaft 25. Whenthe ratchet wheel 28 has made one rotation, the ratchet pawl 31 of theL- shaped lever 30 comes on the guide 29 of the disc 27 again, then theratchet pawl 31 engaged with the ratchet wheel 28 is released and theratchet pawl 21 makes the slidably reciprocating movement on the guide29, stopping the rotation of the driving shaft 25 and the ratchet wheel28. In this manner, the driving shaft 25 is adapted to make one rotationand the grooved cam 36 secured at one end of said shaft 25 is driven torotate once so that the lever 40 is adapted to make one lever actionwith the lever arm 39 as its center by means of the contact 41 slidingthrough the groove 37. At the same time, the top portion of theunwinding pipe B provided at another end of the lever 40 is adapted toapproach the top portion of the unwinding pipe B plunges into the topportion of the bobbin.

The end portion of the bobbin A is so held by an inside wall of theframe 26 that the central shaft 4 of the bobbin A is fitted into theinnermost bottom of the funneled opening 44 to hold the bobbin A itself,whereby the retractable bushing 6 is pushed by the projection 47 andretracted into the guide pipe 2. The nose bunch 9 of weft wound aroundthe periphery of the bushing 6 is drawn out by means of the retractingbushing and the opening edge of the guide pipe 2, into which the bushing6 having the nose bunch 9 of Weft is plunged. At the same time, thelever 40 is returned back to the normal position through the rotation ofthe grooved cam 36 so that the unwinding pipe B is retracted to releasecompressive stress of the bushing 6, then said bushing 6 is projectedthrough returning resiliency of the coil spring 7 to push the drawn outnose bunch 9 of weft into the funneled suction opening 44 within theunwinding of pipe B, resulting in that the drawn out nose bunch 9 ofweft may be deeply absorbed into the suction pipe 43 with the aid ofsuction of said pipe and the end of the weft 8 around the bushing 6 ofthe bobbin A may be held securely. Thus, the bobbin A held by the bobbinguide 12 is ready for the next bobbin changing motion. The bobbin A theend of the weft of which has been drawn out, is rolled down by therotatably falling transferrer 17 during the bobbin changing motion, thensaid bobbin is delivered down into a shuttle on account of the downwardelastic flexibility of the bobbin support 13.

In the embodiment of this invention, the retractable bushing 6 isprovided at the top portion of the bobbin A, the end of the weft 8 iswound around said retractable bushing 6 to form the nose bunch 9 of theweft, and said bushing may be retracted into the funneled suctionopening 44 of the unwinding pipe B by means of the projection 47arranged at the innermost bottom of said opening 44. While the bushing 6is retracting into the guide pipe 2, tension between the nose bunch 9 ofweft and the weft 8 wound around the body of the bobbin 1 is loosenedand said nose bunch 9 of the weft is drawn off by the retracting bushing6 and the peripheral edge of the guide pipe 2 so that over tension isnot given to the weft 8, said weft can be easily and smoothly unwoundfrom the retractile bushing 6 of the bobbin A and cutting off of theweft 8 may be completely eliminated.

In addition, the unwinding action through the device of this inventionis not influenced either by the unwinding strength and hardness of thenose bunch 9 of weft around the retractile bushing 6 at the top portionof the bobbin A, while the present device can be applied to the weft ofany yarn count. Moreover, an outside diameter of the nose bunch 9 ofweft wound around the retractable bushing 6 can be made as small aspossible so that slipping as well as deterioration of the weft duringdelivery of the bobbin A can be eliminated. As particularly shown inFIGS. 3, 5 and 6, the central shaft 4 is provided into the top centralportion of the bobbin A, while said central shaft 4 is adapted to fitinto the funneled suction opening 44 of the unwinding pipe B during theunwinding action so that the wrong movement, slipping, displacement orinclination of the bobbin A may be completely eliminated and said bobbinA is subjected to the unwinding action under the normal position,whereby the weft can be unwound from the bobbin under some pressure fromthe top portion of said bobbin, which is maintained at the determinedposition and the bobbin changing motion can be fully carried out withoutspecial holding means.

In accordance with the unwinding device of this invention, it is neithernecessary to hold the nose bunch 9 of weft through the nippers, nor tofrictionally treat the nose bunch by any brush so that the top portionof the bobbin A may not be damaged, completely eliminating cutting ofthe weft 8 during the unwinding motion. As fully explained in theforegoing paragraphs, the device of this invention enables the easy andsmooth unwinding of the nose bunch of weft from the bobbin, giving nodamage, cutting, fuzz or deterioration to the weft so that a wovenfabric having superior quality can be obtained.

What I claim:

1. A device for automatically unwinding a nose bunch of a weft from aretractable bushing of a bobbin, which comprises a frame having at aside plate thereof an opening, a driving shaft rotatably secured intosaid frame, said shaft having at one end a ratchet wheel, a disc and anL-shaped lever, said disc having a guide plate on a top portionperiphery, a ratchet pawl secured by a pin to an end portion of saidL-shaped lever, a vertical rod connected by another pin to another endof said Lshaped lever, a plate spring being in wedging contact with acog of said ratchet wheel, said vertical rod being con nected to arocking shaft through a slay sword, a rod and an L-shaped lever,respectively, a ratchet pawl secured by a pin to a bottom portion of atransferrer, wherein the ratchet wheel is driven to make a clockwiserotation by the vertical rod, said transferrer pivoted on a shaft andbiased by a plate spring, a second stopper pivoted on a shaft andconnected by a rod to a top base portion of the transferrer, a head ofthe first stopper being projected into a guide conduit through itsbottom opening, wherein said head is projected by means of the rodthrough a sectional reciprocating motion of the transferrer in order tohold a bobbin, a cam secured at another end of the driving shaft, agroove formed around a cylindrical surface of said cam, wherein asliding contact of a lever pivoted at its intermediate position by alever arm is driven to make one reciprocating motion by means of saidcontact sliding cylindrically through said groove, an unwinding pipesecured at another end of the lever and reciprocally brought intocontact with the bobbin through the opening of the side plate of theframe by said lever so as to unwind a nose bunch of weft out of thebobbin and subsequently feeding said bobbin into a shuttle.

2. An automatic bobbin changing device comprising, in

combination, a frame having at a side plate thereof an opening, adriving shaft rotatably secured into said frame, said shaft having atone end a ratchet wheel, a disc and an L-shaped lever, said disc havinga guide plate on a top portion periphery, a ratchet pawl secured by apin to an end portion of said L-shaped lever, a vertical rod connectedby another pin to another end of said L-shaped lever, a plate springbeing in wedging contact with a cog of said ratchet wheel, said verticalrod being connected bore of said bobbin, and a central shaft having atenon to a rocking shaft through a slay sword, a link and a bell 10crank lever, respectively, a ratchet pawl secured by a pin to a bottomportion of a transferrer, wherein the ratchet wheel is driven to make aclockwise rotation by the vertical rod, said transferrer pivoted on ashaft and biased by a plate spring, a second stopper arranged over andslightly put on said transferrer, a first stopper pivoted on a shaft andconnected by a rod to a top base portion of the transferrer, a head ofthe first stopper being projected into a guide conduit through itsbottom opening, wherein said head is projected by means of the rodthrough a sectional reciprocating motion of the transferrer in order tohold a bobbin, a plate spring working in a counterclockwise direction onsaid transferrer to keep said transferrer normally in position, so thatwhen the transferrer is rotatably falling down, the bobbin is delivereddown into a shuttle.

3. In combination with a bobbin changing device according to claim 2, abobbin construction comprising, in combination, a guide pipe integrallysecured into a top portion at its other end, wherein the central shaftis axially disposed into an opening of said guide pipe through aretractable bushing and a coil spring in such a manner that theretractable bushing having a flange at its inner end periphery may beslidably guided through the coil spring along the central shaft untilthe flange of said bushing is stopped by the tenon portion of saidcentral shaft, thereby unwinding a nose bunch of weft out of theretractable bushing and subsequently enabling the supplying of the weftinto a shuttle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,101,099 8/1963 Payne 139-257 X3,199,545 8/ 1965 Kohler 139-257 3,208,480 9/1965 Zollinger 139-2573,233,636 2/ 1966' Bulcock 139-256 3,240,236 3/ 1966 Okajima et a1139-257 FOREIGN PATENTS 603,784 10/ 1934 Germany. 1,252,045 12/ 1960France.

JAMES KEE CHI, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R.

